. >>> reporter: in what's seen as a last-minute attempt to reach a deal, president obama meets at the white house with senate majority leader harry reid, house minority leader nancy pelosi, senate minority leader mitch mcconnell and house speaker john boehner. they have only four days to reach an agreement or the u.s. economy will go off the so- called "fiscal cliff." that's when automatic spending increases and cuts would take effect. reaching a deal won't be easy because both sides are involved in a high stakes political blame game. >> we are here in washington working while the members of the house of representatives are out watching movies and watching the kids play soccer and basketball and doing all kinds of things. they should be here. >> i told the president we would be happy to look at wah he proposes but the truth is we are coming up against a hard deadline and as i said this is a conversation we should have had months ago. >> reporter: democrats want to extend the bush-era tax cuts to everyone except those americans making $250,000 or more a year. many republicans are again